Rose Petals
by Min Daae
Summary: Min's story as she grows up living in Baerlon, meets Rand and falls in love with the man destined to become the Dragon Reborn. R&R, please!
1. Viewings

I've always been able to view anyone I liked, and at the same time it has always made life hard for me. I used to want to warn those I saw, but rarely did they respond favorably of the knowledge that they would marry a woman they hated now, or that they would have a near miss with drowning. The first man I viewed had the best response to the knowledge that he was going to break his arm falling off a horse. He scowled at me and cuffed me around the ears - this would be when I was twelve or so. "You just be quiet, little girl, and stop trying to stir up trouble," he told me, and then gave me a piece of chocolate and sent me home.

My mother had walked out of Baerlon when I was young, and my father had died before that in a fight in a tavern, so the care of me passed to my three aunts – Jan, Miren, and Rana. They were fond of me, but could be very strict whenever I tried to stretch my limits – which I did quite often. Even when I was very young, I grew skilled at crawling out of open doors. My first real adventure was when I crawled all the way across the street into the baker's house. I imagine that she was slightly surprised to find a young child in her kitchen, but I just remember her scooping me up and carrying me back across the street – which, of course, I thought was great fun. She returned me to my aunts, who had been panicking about where I could have gone.

They were so relieved to have me returned safely that I wasn't punished for that. However, when I began walking, they encountered another bucketful of trouble. I frequently escaped the house to wander the streets, and though I always came back, my aunts worried themselves sick all day. I am ashamed to say that to me, this was all part of the game of escaping.

I think that I had my first viewings when I was almost twelve. They scared me, and I took to staying inside, huddled on my bed and not looking at anyone, for a very short week. Then my aunt Miren walked upstairs and threw the blankets off of me and stood there, hands impassively on hips. "Are you sick, girl?"

"No," I said miserably.

"Then why are you up here in your bed, all day, as if you were?"

"I see things around people," I whimpered, feeling very sorry for myself. "And it scares me. Am I going mad, Auntie?"

In a single step Miren was over to me, and my cheek stung viciously with the strength of her slap.

"What was that for?" I whined, rubbing my cheek.

"Stop this right now," said my Aunt Miren. "You are not a young child, so stop acting like one. You are feeling sorry for yourself, and I know a very good cure for that…."

"No, really. I'm fine," I said hurriedly. Auntie Miren's "remedies" were the foulest things I'd ever tasted.

"Then get out of that bed and come downstairs to eat something. You must be hungry."

"I am, a little," I admitted. "But…"

"No buts about it, young lady. You are coming downstairs if I must drag you out of that bed. So are you coming?"

I hesitated, but the mention of food had awakened my stomach, and I climbed reluctantly out of my bed. After that I found that the viewings didn't bother me as much, and gradually they became merely a personal idiosyncrasy – like some people have eyes for horses or luck with gambling.

However, I did begin telling people about my viewings as soon as I was numbed to this strangeness of mine. After all, if I didn't find it strange, why should someone else? My aunts were very helpful in warding off the anger of these victims of my viewings. "She just has an overactive imagination," I remember Aunt Rana saying to an angry family that showed up on our doorstep, blaming me for the death of their son – a death that I had foretold. "You needn't take her so seriously. She's only a little girl, you know." Then she shut the door firmly, and bolted it, before giving me the spanking of my life and sending me upstairs without a bite of the pie that had just come out of the oven. I sulked about that for quite a while, I recall.

However, the first time I truly put my small family in danger was when I was when I was nearly thirteen, though still terribly naïve. I looked at a man in the street with his wife, and saw that he would marry a woman that I recognized as a woman who sold produce downtown. I walked over to him and tugged on his sleeve and told him what I had seen. His wife gave me an annoyed look.

"Are you trying to spread rumors, little girl?" she asked sourly. "You shouldn't say such ugly lies."

"Oh, come now. She's only a little girl. What does she know?" said the man, and laughed, but he looked at me nervously before they passed down the street.

I fear it may have been my fault, I fear, that the man chose to run away only a few days later. He was afraid, I think, that I had overheard him and would tell his wife about his plans. The wife remembered my warning and gathered a mob, then marched them to my house and accused me of using the One Power on her husband, or giving them some sort of potion. My aunts grabbed my arm and drew me aside before I went outside. "Elmindreda…please, tell them something. Something other than the truth." My Aunt Jan said fiercely.

"Why should I lie?" I asked. "I just…"

"Just trust me that it is not a good idea," said Miren harshly. "Say that…you overheard them, or something. We've got to get out of this trouble. We'll speak to you later."

I told my story about overhearing them together in a flat, emotionless voice. I didn't like telling lies, and I didn't really understand the danger. My aunts promised to punish me, and emphasized that I was a child. If they hadn't been so righteously angry at me, the mob might have killed me, or burned our house down.

After the mob was gone, my aunts sat me down and explained to me why people would shout at me in the streets, and why people with torches sometimes came to my house in the evenings, and why the Dragon's Fang had appeared on our door once. Thankfully the Town Watch had come and dispersed the mobs, and my aunt had rubbed the charcoal drawing off before morning, though she had looked on the point of tears.

"My dear, about these viewings of yours, if they really are true…"

"They are!" I insisted. "Remember-"

"You have been right, once in a while, and I admit that it is a bit too often to be attributed to coincidence, but…Elmindreda, darling, you must be careful of who you tell about these things you see."

"But won't they want a warning?"

"People are funny, darling," my wise old aunt told me. "Half the time they want to know what will happen, but only if it's good, like gaining a fortune, or becoming famous. People don't want to hear about how they're going to get their arm broken or fall in love with someone they dislike, and too often, the warnings you give tend to be of that sort. Please, Elmindreda, for my sake…don't say anything about your viewings….to anyone. They may be putting you in danger."

"But why would people want to hurt me or you?"

"These things you see show that you're different, and sometimes it scares people, and people want to hurt things that scare them. I'm afraid that if you keep telling people about these things, we may have worse than the Dragon's Fang or mobs threatening fire. Promise me, darling, you won't tell anyone about these viewings."

I was still confused, but agreeably I said, "I promise, Auntie," and I wouldn't forget it.


	2. The Stag and Lion

I grew older, and so did my aunt. The gray in her hair increased, and she got weaker. During the winters she suffered illness in her lungs that made her weak and coughing. One winter when I was fifteen she didn't recover, and two months later she died. I had no place to go.

I spent a month out on the street after I was evicted from my home, and that was when I cut my dark hair short and took to calling myself Min, rather than Elmindreda – though I had never liked name, I had a legitimate reason now. I tried to look like a boy as much as possible. Being a lady out on the streets was more dangerous than being a man.

I was wandering the streets, when I came into a district of inns I had never seen before. I spotted a man that looked friendly. Above him a sign swung lazily in the wind, and I read, "The Stag and the Lion."

I walked over to him where he was wiping his hands on his apron. "Excuse me," I said warily. Even one month on the street had given me plenty of cause to be wary, and to use the knives I had bought in the market after the first time someone jumped me. "I'm looking for work. Do you have any jobs for me? I can work in the stables, or…"

"You're a girl, unless I miss my guess," he said gruffly, eying me up and down. "So what are you doing dressed up in men's clothing?"

I met his gaze evenly. "I've had occasion to want to look as much like a man as I can, Master…"

"Fitch." He offered, still looking me up and down. His gaze, friendly though it was, was starting to make me uncomfortable. "And you?"

"Elmindreda," I said automatically, and winced. "Call me Min. Do you have work, or don't you?"

The innkeeper looked at me gruffly. "Well," he said. "Not really…" I shrugged and prepared to walk on by. He called after me. "But…I won't rest easy, leaving a young lady like you out on the streets to fend for herself. So I suppose you can work in the stables, tending horses and the like…or you can help in the kitchens…"

I grimaced. "The horses, please. I have no hand for cooking."

"All right, then. Mutch will tell you what to do. He's just inside the stable. You'll have a room upstairs – not very big, mind you – and you'll be paid fairly and fed well. But I expect you to work hard. If I find you've been slacking, it'll be out the door with you, young lady or no. There's no room at my inn for idlers. Off you go then, miss."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, with a small smile. Then, remembering my manners, I added, "Master Fitch." He grimaced and waved a hand at me, seeming embarrassed by his show of compassion. He turned to go inside, and fire flickered around his head. He would be hurt in a fire, and his inn, too. I opened my mouth to call after him, then shut it, firmly, remembering my aunt's warning. Hard as it was, I had to keep silent. I walked into the stables to begin my first real job, determined to find a place at this inn. Little did I know where my choice of the Stag and the Lion would lead me.


	3. Of Stableboys and Kisses

Mutch was a hard man.

He drove all of the stable workers very hard, male or (in my case) female. Any slacking was met with a tap of the whip and a threat of a beating or telling Master Fitch. He was particularly hard on me, and every time he looked at me I saw hatred in his eyes. I had done nothing that I knew to displease him, and he still stared at me all day, and struck me harder than the rest for taking a brief break when pitching hay, or for leading horses to the wrong place.

I took to avoiding his eyes, and I searched for viewings that might help me know what he might do to me in the future, on the smallest excuse, but never once did I see anything around his blocky, square-jawed head. When he caught me staring at him, he would stump over, whacking his horse whip on his hand. "What are you looking at, girl?"

"Nothing, sir," I hastened to assure him, and would hurry back to my work without looking back at him. I tried telling Master Fitch about him and the way he treated his workers, but he just shook his head and told me that Mutch had a right to deal with the stableboys – and girl, he added with a glance at me – as he wished to. Meanwhile, the fire flickered around him most times, and I shivered violently at the sight of it. Of course, he couldn't feel it, but it was horrifying, talking to him like that. Eventually I took to avoiding him, too.

I had begun to develop into a woman, and I didn't like it very much. However, I did enjoy the stableboys' astonished looks as I took to wearing looser blouses to give room for my growing chest, belted at the waist to accentuate my slender frame. At first I hardly realized either attribute of this style – it was only practicality - but I began to enjoy the staring eyes as the stableboys finally realized that I was female.

I almost never flirted with them, but I did tease them quite a lot, as I recall. There was one boy who was particularly interested in me, and continually brought me flowers, much to the other's amusement, and jealousy, when I began to pay attention to him. I would walk around the street outside the inn on his arm when we had off time in the mornings, those rare days, and occasionally gave him a few kisses to encourage him and keep him from giving up.

It all came to a head when Mutch caught me kissing the stableboy in the hayloft – oh, not much more than kissing, but enough for Mutch to take the whole fiasco to Fitch. He had come to view me as a daughter, and I remember standing in front of his desk with the boy staring at the ground and blushing next to me, and Mutch in a corner with arms crossed and an expression of satisfaction of his face.

"Min, were this stableboy's attention's unwanted?" Fitch asked, looking almost as embarrassed as the boy next to me.

"No," I said, after a brief glance at the boy.

Fitch coughed, and the red in his cheeks deepened. "Where you supposed to be working at the time that Mutch…er…found you and him together?"

I was rather amused by Fitch's embarrassment. "No, sir. It was an off time."

"Well then…ah…Min, I wish to speak to you alone. Mutch, lad, you may go. I'll speak to you later," he told the stableboy. After they left, he turned to me again. "What exactly…." Fitch blushed even more here, "What were you doing in the hayloft, miss? With the boy?"

I shrugged. "Oh, just a couple of kisses. Nothing _really _indecent, Master Fitch."

Fitch's face was now a deep shade of purple. "Well…there are a few things… I should probably explain to you…" I listened attentively as he stumbled through, or tried to, an explanation of why I should not be dallying with the stableboys, and other such things, and his face got redder and redder as he went along. At last I stopped him before he fainted altogether.

"Master Fitch, my aunt told me all of this, before she died. You needn't continue embarrassing yourself on my account."

He flushed and scowled fiercely at me. "Well. Go along, then. And don't spend time with any more stableboys!" he called after my retreating back.

Unfortunately, the hapless lad was fired, as in the investigation of him it was found that he was stealing money. But that part of the story didn't get out, and the other boys avoided me as though I had the plague ever after.


	4. Moiraine

The work didn't get any easier, but my bed was comfortable enough, and the food was good, so I stayed at the Stag and the Lion for almost five years before the first truly exciting thing happened to me.

It began when I was out exploring the city the night before what I knew was Winternight in the country, and was celebrated similarly in Baerlon. I saw two strangers walk in the North Gate – a man and a woman, both dressed in fine clothes and on fine horses, like a lady and her guard, but that wasn't really what was strange to me, though the rest of the city gaped at them. They were both surrounded by auras, flickering and changing. Always.

Most of the time, when I viewed people, the images stayed the same and where only there sometimes. But with these two – it was image after image, flashing through so quickly I could hardly identify them before they were changing before my eyes. A twisted red doorway, a beautiful woman in a white dress that would harm her somehow, three rings hanging in the air, a man with lightning wreathing his head whose life she would be tied to. A ring, with a snake biting its tail the design it was shaped into. I gasped, my mouth dropping open.

I had never had much time for reading, but I had read enough to know what that meant. _Aes Sedai. _I leaned back, fearfully, as though she could snare me in just by looking at me. She looked at me, suddenly, and rode over to where I shrunk back against the building. She looked at me, and the man with her – _her Warder, I guess, _I thought – also looked at me, warily, and everywhere else, too. He was the hardest looking man I'd ever seen.

"Yes, Aes Sedai?" I said warily, before I realized what I'd said and wished I could take it back.

The Warder tensed, and a breath hissed between his teeth. "What do you know of Aes Sedai?" he asked flatly, his hand fingering his sword.

"Peace, Lan," said the lady, laying a hand on his arm. She looked down at me. "Could you show us to a good inn, miss…

"Min, Aes Sedai. If you please." I said politely, though still warily. It was said that Aes Sedai could weave nets around you without you knowing it. I didn't intend to get any closer to this Aes Sedai than I already was. "Follow me."

I set off toward the Stag and the Lion and they followed me easily, though I would not have minded had I lost them in the crowd. Here you are, Aes Sedai and Master Lan. I work here. May I go now?"

"Mistress Alys, if you please, Min." I had a feeling that was not her real name, but I did not protest. If she wanted her name secret, I would keep it secret, as long as she left Baerlon soon. "And this is Master Andra." She put a peculiar emphasis on the name that only strengthened my realization that Alys was indeed not her true name.

Mutch walked out of the stable. He took one look at the Aes Sedai and her Warder and his eyes widened. His gaze turned and he scowled at me. "Lazy girl, have you been keeping guests waiting with your idle talk?" he turned to the guests and his voice took on a simpering tone. "Pardon me for this one's behavior, Master and Mistress. She's just a young lout with no idea of responsibility. If I may take your horses?"

"No, she wasn't bothering me at all. She was very helpful in leading us to this inn," said the Aes Sedai as she swung down. "You may, good sir. For your trouble, master –" she flipped him a coin, and my eyes widened as I saw the glint of gold. "And you, miss," she added, tossing a coin to me.

I caught it deftly and stared at the gold coin in my hand, stamped with a design I didn't recognize. Something whispered in my mind about not trusting Aes Sedai money, but I ignored it and pocketed the coin.

As soon as the Aes Sedai disappeared, Mutch's smile vanished and he growled at me. "You filthy little brat! With your idle, brainless chatter you could have lost us good money! Be thankful that that lady is so forgiving." He stumped off, leaving me to lead the two horses into the stable.

Later in the evening, yawning, I staggered up the stairs to my room and opened the door – only to find the Aes Sedai and Lan sitting in the chairs next to the fire. Well, she was sitting. Lan was leaning against the wall and watching everything. The position would have been relaxed on any other man. He still looked dangerous, and I kept one eye firmly on him, and the other on his Aes Sedai.

"Yes, Aes – I mean, Mistress Alys? Have I done something wrong?"

Her gaze pinned me to the wall like a bug in a collection. "No, but I am curious…how did you know I was Aes Sedai the first time you saw me?"

I wracked my brain for some other explanation for how I had known, and found nothing. "I…I just guessed."

The Warder, Lan, snorted, the first sound I'd heard him make. She shot him a glance, and he fell silent. "Child, you may tell the truth. There is nothing to fear."

I bristled. "I am not a child. I am nearly to my twentieth nameday!"

Lan twitched, but rather than seeming angry, he seemed amused. I glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice. "Min, then," said the Aes Sedai absently. "If you will explain this…ability of yours? What did you see that distinguished me from any high-born lady?"

All of a sudden, in a rush, everything came out about my viewings, and my aunt and her telling me not to tell anyone. Everything. When I was done, I looked at her, looking for surprise or horror or anything, but she merely looked interested.

"Seeing Pieces of the Pattern," she said softly. "I have heard of such things, but never have I seen or listened to one who could do it, before. This is extraordinary, Min. Tell me…what do you see around me? And Lan?"

I warily told the Aes Sedai what I had seen around her, ready to run if she looked angry because of what I said. Then I looked at Lan and related what I saw around him. A dark haired woman underwater that he was bound to. The same red doorway as she had. Broken towers, and a baby in a cradle holding a sword. And more, too, always danger and foreboding…but he was a Warder, and Warders were always fighting, so the stories said. There were so many images, around both of them, that they were constantly crowding each other out so I could hardly distinguish one from another.

I glanced at her, searching for some sign of discomfort or annoyance, but all she looked was interested. "Very strange," she said. "And interesting. Does it mean anything to you? Can you know anything about what these images mean?"

"Sometimes," I said reluctantly. "But not with any of the images I told you about."

"Yes. Yes, of course. Thank you, Min," she said absently. "You may go." I could tell by her face that I was already forgotten, and I scowled. The Warder glanced at me, his face all stony planes and angles, but I would have thought he was amused if I thought that he was a man to be amused.

"Do you know how to use those knives you carry, girl?"

My hand twitched toward the sleeve of my coat, where two knives were hidden. I gaped at him. Perhaps it was true that Warders could see through cloth and behind their backs. I was suddenly very eager to leave the room. "Yes," I said defiantly, not about to show my fear. "I can." Then, just to show him, I flourished one of my knives from my sleeve and lunged at him, not intending to ever strike him. All of this was in less than a heartbeat, but in a moment he moved from apparent relaxation faster than a snake. His hand caught my arm, and though I struggled as hard as I could, he held it there as if he were stone – and his grip felt like stone, too. The Aes Sedai had not even looked up. His other hand brushed his sword briefly before he dropped it to his side and looked me in the eyes. He did not release me, however.

"Let me go!" I demanded, scowling fiercely at him.

Lan still looked amused. "Of course," he said, releasing my arm. I stumbled forward and almost fell, but I caught my balance quickly and glared at Lan, rubbing my arm.

"You needn't have been so rough. I wasn't actually going to hurt you."

"Of course not," said Lan. "I was never really in danger. I could tell the moment you moved that you would not. There is a difference in motion between the intent to kill and the intent to show off."

I blushed and looked down. "Well, you still…" I hesitated. "You shouldn't…" Letting out a huff of breath, I scowled. Anything I said, I knew, would sound childish. "Are you staying long?"

"No. We're leaving tomorrow morning," said the Aes Sedai briskly, still writing something at the table and not looking up.

"Where are you going?" I demanded.

"You don't have to know everything, girl," said Lan, but she shot him a look and offered me a smile. I resisted the urge to return it and deepened my scowl.

"We're going to the Two Rivers, child." When I glared at her, she added, "Min. We will be returning shortly, the day after, perhaps. It depends on what we find there. I will speak with you when I return, yes?"

I nodded. There was nothing else I could do.

"You may go, then, Min," said the Aes Sedai, and it was a dismissal, certainly, by the firmness in her voice. I walked to the door and walked out, closing the door behind me. However, I hesitated before leaving, and pressed my ear to the door.

"-an interesting child." the Aes Sedai was saying.

"Do you believe what she said? About these…viewings?"

"She has no reason to lie; therefore I will assume that she is telling the truth, until I have further evidence. I must speak to Siuan about this – she should be taken to the tower. I, at least, want to know more about this child's abilities." There was a pause, and then the Aes Sedai called out, "Min, child, I know you are listening. Eavesdropping is for children and thieves. As you are neither, you should not be doing it. Go to bed, child. And do no more listening to that which does not involve you."

Blushing, I turned and tiptoed away without responding.


	5. Strangers

_A/N: Much love to the Grammarian for reviewing and pestering me about updating. –blows kiss- Also thanks to the WoT FAQ page for info on heights and ages, along with numerous other reference stuff. Kisses to y'all too. Enjoy:_

I thought I was done with Aes Sedai, but trouble came in only a few days later.

It came with six strangers, and walked in through the gates straight to the Stag and the Lion. I was sweeping the aisles when they came in, but when I recognized the blue of the Aes Sedai's cloak, I swiftly ducked through the door into the kitchens. I dodged in between cooks, wooden spoons, and maids, ignoring the protests that followed me, until I reached the small cranny I had discovered from which I could see the back door of the inn. I peeked around the corner and kept my eyes on the doorway until Master Fitch backed through, dry-washing his hands. "Yes, milady Alys, milord Andra. Of course I have rooms. Of course. And your guests? What are they doing here? I am very surprised to see you traveling with…downcountry folk. He had been about to say "country oafs," I knew.

Mistress Alys – the Aes Sedai – smiled slightly. "My business is my own, Master Fitch," she said sternly. "Thank you for your hospitality. But I think the first order of business should be a meal, and then a bath. For all of us," she added, eying the grime caked on her Warder and the men behind her – the ones that I could not see as of yet. The images flickering around Mistress Alys were giving me a headache, they were so frequent. Then she stepped inside, her and her Warder; Lan, I remembered; and the others followed her. I caught my breath. First was a man with long, white mustaches, wearing the patched cloak of a gleeman. I caught glimpses of a few images: a man, not him, juggling fire, and the White Tower – but it was not him that caught my eye.

As he stepped through, looking around warily, a girl followed him, rather small and slightly shorter than me, her hair long, dark and in a braid. Around her head images flickered – not constantly, like Mistress Alys, but still far more commonly than most people I viewed. I wondered what the connection was between her, Lan, and the Aes Sedai. Why were their viewings so frequent? Did it have something to do with channeling? I wondered, but before I could think on it more, three more surprises stepped in after the girl. Three boys, rather younger than I was but two of them head and shoulders much taller than me, and the third about my height. The shortest had dark hair and a rather (I thought) shifty and mischievous look, but he didn't look to be cruel or unkind, just a little bit of a trickster. He carried a tall bow and a quiver of arrows. The next tallest was a boy that was much taller than the dark haired boy, whom I thought of as Trickster. His hair was brown, slightly shaggy, and he was muscular, like the blacksmiths I saw sometimes. He was wearing a long cloak, slightly too short for him, but I glimpsed for a moment an axe, gleaming in the inn's light. Blacksmith.

The final boy was the one that interested me most, though. He was taller than either other boy, his hair red, much unlike any of the other's hair. He also wore a long, shabby cloak that was too short for him. His eyes, as I glimpsed them when he looked warily around the inn, were gray. All in all, he looked very different from the others, his height aside. And underneath his cloak, as he peered over his shoulder, I glimpsed the outline of a sword. It, strangely enough, didn't look awkward him as it should have on a country boy. Swordsman, perhaps?

But what fascinated me most were the viewings – well, not so much the viewings themselves as their numbers. Around Trickster and Blacksmith, they were almost as numerous as the young girl's. Stranger, and stranger. Sometimes the viewings confused me more than they helped me understand. Around the Swordsman, they were more numerous, swirling and flickering around his head more even than the dark haired girl, nearly as much as the Aes Sedai. I pulled a few from the mess of visions, falling over each other and changing so fast it was difficult to see anything. A red hot iron, him pouring water on sand, a black funeral bier with him lying on it. Lightning, both striking at him and coming from him. I shook my head to clear my muddled thoughts, trying to make sense of it all. I saw the Aes Sedai glance in my direction, and I quickly ducked back behind the alcove. When I dared to look again, they were gone, and Master Fitch was wiping his brow anxiously. He noticed me before I could duck out of sight. "Min!" he called. Reluctantly, I moved out of my hiding place and trotted across the room to him.

He looked at me closely, his eyes narrowed slightly. "What were you doing watching our guests so intently over there, child?" he asked me. His tone was disapproving.

"I'm sorry, Master Fitch," I said innocently. "I was only curious." I would not mention the viewings to him, ever. I had not forgotten my aunt Rana's warning.

Master Fitch harrumphed suspiciously. "Well…" he searched for some sort of reply for several moments. He glared at the innocent expression on my face. "Oh, stop that," he said sharply. "I'll think you're up to something, child. Go and find some work with Mutch, or something. Don't be sticking your nose into the business of your betters, or you'll get your nose burnt."

I curtseyed, rather awkwardly without the skirts. "I will do as you say, Master Fitch," I said, so meekly that he shot me a surprised look before hurrying off. I smiled fondly after him and moved off to the stables, my mind whirling. Clearly, Master Fitch had no idea of exactly the strangeness of his guests. He would have commented, had he known that Mistress Alys, as she called herself, was an Aes Sedai. And been more frightened, too, with all of the rumors flying about – Whitecloaks stirring up trouble, causing riots and mobs to form in the streets. To Whitecloaks, every Aes Sedai was a Darkfriend or worse. It was a strange time, indeed. Very strange, but exciting, too. Perhaps a change was coming, and I might have a chance at that adventure I had dreamed about for years.

I walked into the stables and almost immediately, Mutch grabbed the collar of my shirt and swung me at a stall. "No idling, girl," he growled. "It's a busy night tonight, and there's plenty of work to be done. Where have you been, anyway?"

"Speaking to Master Fitch," I said challengingly. Mutch rubbed his ear, but couldn't find fault with that, and hurried off to harangue someone else. I looked at the stall that I had almost run into, and found a tall, lean, well built black stallion there, the kind of horse a nobleman might ride, but stronger. A warhorse, maybe. Lan's horse, most likely, I decided. It looked like the kind of horse that stone-faced man might ride.

I opened the stall door and slipped in carefully, eying the stallion warily. He rolled his eyes at me and cocked a hoof. I pulled the grooming box and a lead rope over the tall stall door and grabbed the curry comb, moving over to him clutching it like a weapon. He sidled away from me and snorted, his lip curling back from his teeth as I had seen stallions do before they attacked. I stopped, quickly, watching his hooves and his teeth at the same time and trying to control my nervousness. I had handled difficult horses before. I could handle this one.

His eyes rolled again, and he kicked out with a hind hoof. The stall clattered, and the horse next to him whickered uneasily. "Easy," I murmured, as much for my benefit as the horses. He looked sideways at me, his eyes seeming to say, "Try me." A challenge. I scowled. He blew out some air and lowered his head. I sprang.

Moving too swiftly across the stall, for him to react, I looped the nosepiece of the halter over his nose and the headpiece over his ears, and scrambled to buckle it. Before I got far, his head swung down and grabbed the back of my shirt in his teeth, then dragged his head upwards. I wasn't short, but I found myself dangling a foot off the ground. Yelping, I swung my hand upwards clumsily until it connected with a furry nose. He snorted and released my shirt, stepping back. I fell heavily to the floor and slumped into a heap.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I scowled at the stallion, who I would have said to be amused – though his stance was as impassive as his owner's. I grumbled and suddenly realized that I heard laughter from the front of the stall. I whirled, my mouth opening to tell off the stableboy. I snapped it shut as I recognized Trickster, from earlier. I planted my fists on my hips and scowled as best I could with him grinning at me impudently. Grins are extraordinarily infectious, and his was even more so. I deepened my scowl and opened my mouth again. "Oh, shut up," I said. "You couldn't do any better." He didn't stop grinning. I felt my mouth twitch. "Who are you, anyway?" I asked grumpily. "Traveling with an Aes –" I cut myself off quickly, but his grin had vanished.

"What are you talking about?" he said warily. "I'm not traveling with an…whatever you said."

"Ah…" I looked for a way out of this. I leaned my arms on the stall door. "She came through Baerlon earlier. I spoke with her, that's all."

"Okay," he said, but his guard stayed up.

"Where are you from, anyway?" I asked after a pause.

"The Two Rivers," he said shortly.

"I've never heard of that," I said. "Where is it."

"South. I've got to go now. Bye."

"What's your name, anyway?"

He hesitated, looking over his shoulder at me, his eyes narrowed, and opened his mouth to say something, when Lan appeared in the doorway, his cold eyes on me. "I hope you have not been saying too much," he said in a flat voice. "You have to be careful what ears you speak to – here and everywhere. Go back to the inn, Mat." Mat turned quickly and walked out of the stables, looking over his shoulder at me. The horse behind me pushed me out of the way and snorted at the man, leaning his head over the door. I nearly fell over, catching myself on the wall. Lan stroked the stallion's nose absently.

We were both silent for a long time, but I couldn't hold his gaze for long. I dropped it to the shavings and scuffed at them with my feet. "Mistress Alys wishes to speak to you," he said at last.

"Oh?" I said. "Why?"

I think he must have shrugged. "She didn't tell me. Come along, girl."

"I'm supposed to take care of this horse," I protested, scowling up at the stallion.

Lan snorted. "Right. I'll take care of him later. He won't let anyone else near him. Come on."

I sighed, but slipped out through the stall door and trotted after the Warder into the back door of the inn, then upstairs. I struggled to keep up, even at almost a run. I scowled the whole time. Finally he opened the door of the room I remembered the Aes Sedai staying in last time. He opened the door and let me through, then closed it firmly. I shivered, feeling uncomfortably like a prisoner.

"What do you want?" I asked, rather rudely.

She was looking at me over the tips of her fingers, her mouth twitching in a slight smile. "Sit down," she said politely. "I only wanted to talk to you some more about this strange ability of yours."

"I can't tell you anything," I said, not moving toward the chair. "I don't understand it, anyway."

"Oh, not that kind of question, for the most part," she said. "Please, sit down. Tea?"

I shook my head, but she poured me a cup anyway, and pushed it across the table to me. I moved reluctantly over to the chair and sat down. I cupped the warm cup in my hands and stared at her.

"My name is Moiraine," she said. "You saw my companions, I presume? Well, I'm curious – what did you see around them? Anything… different?"

"What companions?" I said innocently. She laughed and stared me down until I flushed and looked at the floor. "Well…" I began hesitantly. "Sort of. I mean, it was strange that there were images at all, really…"

"What do you mean?" Moiraine interrupted. "These…viewings…they aren't around everyone?"

I hesitated, then spoke slowly, every word dragged out of me. I tapped my feet on the floor nervously. "Well…no. Like with you, and Lan, they're always there, but with ordinary people, they're only there sometimes."

"Ah. So what were the images like around my companions?" Moiraine pressed.

"Well, around the man with the mustaches, they were normal, sometimes there, sometimes not. But all the others…" I furrowed my brows, trying to understand also. "They were like you. There all the time. Especially…the tall boy. The one with the sword. And the dark-haired girl."

Moiraine nodded, seeming to be affirming her own suspicions. "Interesting," she said. "And what, exactly, do you see?"

I related my viewings that I remembered, nervously, while she nodded, her expression speculative. I remembered another one, suddenly. "And around all of you was this big black cloud," I said slowly, "And there were white specks, like fireflies, flying into it. Only they were getting swallowed by the blackness. I don't know what it means," I added before she could ask. "None of it."

She nodded slowly. "That's all, Min. Thank you. You know," she added after a moment, "I think, if it is all right with you, I would like to send you to the White Tower. The Aes Sedai there would be interested in learning about your ability…it would be much more comfortable than this inn…?"

I shook my head vigorously. "No thanks. I don't want to get – excuse me – stuck in Aes Sedai webs." Moiraine laughed.

"You are a brave girl, Min. Very brave. You may go now."

"Thank you," I said hesitantly. "Goodbye, Moiraine Sedai." I hurried out the door uneasily past Lan."


	6. The Swordsman

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long since my last update – I am still here. More love to the Grammarian for keeping me writing and beta-ing my story for me! Here it is: chapter 6._

I found myself going out of my way to watch the strangers that evening and the next morning. I didn't exactly hunt them everywhere, but I watched Mat eating in the common room, and Swordsman talking

to Blacksmith out in the inn-yard. I was curious about all of them. They were fascinating to me. Why were they traveling with an Aes Sedai? Why were there so many viewings about them? I had so many questions that I had hoped might be answered simply by watching the strangers, but to no avail. I was left wondering about the mysteries surrounding them: the viewings, and the Aes Sedai.

The morning after the newcomers arrived, I finally grew tired of simply spying on them. I decided that they would eventually go into Baerlon. After all, being from the country, they had probably never seen a "city" as "big" as Baerlon before. By waiting casually in the courtyard, I hoped to catch one of them on their way out of the inn, into the city.

Fortunately enough – or perhaps unfortunately – soon I saw the Swordsman slipping out the door of the inn. I felt a small thrill as he walked into the yard, toying with his belt. The viewings were still there, flickering around him so quickly that they made me dizzy. He noticed me and started slightly, as tense as the Aes Sedai's Warder.

It was my turn to start as a viewing stood out clearly from the customary jumble of images that usually hung over his shoulders. I saw three women's faces, looking over his shoulder. He would love them, and they him, the viewing was telling me. I was shocked not so much by the fact that these women would all love him, but by the fact that one of those faces behind his shoulder was terribly familiar: my own face.

I felt my heart skip a few beats as I recognized my hair, my nose, my face staring right back at me. I hardly even noticed the two other faces, except to notice that one of them had long, red-gold hair and another had a temper. Then I felt my heart skip a few more beats as I realized that, even as little as I knew him, I would not really mind falling in love with this tall, red-headed shepherd from the Two Rivers.

I tried to keep my face still, but I twitched with a sudden desire to run. Light! I would _not_ become one of those women that threw their brains at men's feet for 'true love.' Burn me; I would not love a _wool-headed _shepherd from some obscure farming village! Would not! The inevitability of my viewings closed in on me. I had no choice. I could not run away from him. I _would _fall in love with this man, whether I wanted to or not.

I felt suddenly cold with dread. This was worse than an arranged marriage. I didn't even know him! What was his name? Could he use that sword he wore? I shook my head to clear it, shivering suddenly.

But he was approaching now, his pale gray eyes watching me warily. I had never seen eyes like that on any Two Rivers man – the few that ventured up to Baerlon, at any rate. I was fighting my conflicting urges to speak to him, or run away from him.Light, but I was a fool. Or acting like one, at any rate. Now, at last, I understood the plight of the people whose viewings I saw . I fully understood the agony of knowing and being able to do nothing. Knowing did nothing if you could not change the future once it was set.

"Good morning," I said mildly, as a beginning to a conversation. I might as well begin to get to know this man, even if just looking at him made me feel dizzy.

He gave my boy's clothes a quick glance, quicker than some, but still slower than most. Women from his country village probably still wore dresses up to their necks and skirts to their feet. Light-forsaken prudes. I raised an eyebrow, daring him to comment. He said nothing, and went up a couple points in my estimation of him. But still said nothing, and went right back down again. Burn him, was he one of those men that never talked, or found women as interesting as a block of wood? I hadn't gotten myself mixed up with one of _those, _had I? Not that it would make a difference in my future. I still had to marry him. I very nearly swore and only barely managed to stop myself. I had to appear a lady in front of the man I was engaged to, even if he didn't know of this yet. Faugh! I very nearly spat. Burn this man for making me do this!

I attempted not to twist my mouth in distaste and decided to get right to the point. "My name is Min Farshaw. You?"

"Rand al'Thor," he said simply. This wool-headed fellow was certainly a man of few words.

I tried to remain casual as I came to the actual point of our conversation. "So what's a country boy doing in Baerlon? With an Aes Sedai, no less." He looked around wildly, like a cornered cat searching for an escape route. and "Don't say that," he hissed.

"Why? Nobody's close enough to listen," I said, plucking a piece of grass from between the flagstones and twirling it between my fingers. "And you're avoiding the question."

"Does everybody know?" he said, in a despairing moan. "How do you know?"

I scrambled for an answer and was able to come up with an excuse. "I've seen…others like her…before." It was not entirely untrue. "And, no, nobody has any idea except me. They're all to busy worshipping the ground that "Mistress Alys" walks on." He started at the dry tone in my voice. Maybe he had never seen someone criticize an Aes Sedai. No doubt when she had walked into his village, all those wool-headed, flea-bitten country boys and girls fell flat on their faces.

I realized that he was speaking, and to my embarrassment had not heard what he had said. "Excuse me," I said, feeling my cheeks heat with mortification. "I didn't catch that."

"Why does she want to talk to you, anyway?" he said, sounding a bit petulant. A _city girl, _working at an inn, was likely beneath those _Aes Sedai _"goddesses" he worshipped. I realized how nasty I was being. I had never been this…sharp tongued. The man was tangling my brains already.

"I can see things, sometimes," I heard myself saying, distantly. It was almost as though they weren't even my own words. "Pieces of the Pattern. The Aes Sedai calls it Seeing the Pattern, but I think that's too fancy for it, myself. They're just…viewings." I felt shocked at what I had just said. Since Aunt Rana warned me to keep my abnormality a secret, I had only told two people of the viewings: the Aes Sedai and now this young man, Rand al'Thor. I avoided meeting his eyes. The viewings had suddenly increased, making me dizzy, until I thought I would sick up if I looked at them too long.

"What do you see around me?" he said.

"Oh…things. Around you, and your companions. All sorts of viewings. In fact, you have the most images of any group I've ever seen. Around you, I see…a hand pouring water on sand. I see lightning about you. You on a black bier with three women standing around it. More. Around the others…" Dully, I repeated the viewings I could remember. Now that I had begun, I saw no reason not to spill all. After all, 'it never rains but it pours,' as Master Fitch always said when there was trouble in town. I remembered one last as I recounted them and added it at the end. "You're all connected, too. You, the Aes Sedai, the girl, Mat, and…" I was tempted to just call him Blacksmith, but settled on the more informal version of the name I had given him. "…the blacksmith." He looked at me, seeming uncomfortable. I smiled slightly, and he shifted.

"I had better go," he said after a short pause. "I'm going to go look around Baerlon."

I quirked a small smile, but he was already walking away, his step quick and slightly nervous. Why on earth was he so frightened? Had my glances been a bit too intense, perhaps? I shrugged it off. I was not going to change for a man. A small bit of mischief tickled my brain, and I could not resist. I called after him, "You can run as far as you want, but it won't make a difference. You won't get away from me."

He almost broke into a run before he disappeared, and then I was able to release a burst of laughter. But I wondered, idly, what he was fleeing that made a country lout so terrified of just a girl. A few years older, perhaps, but not a Darkfriend, or something to make people scream and run. Light, was he running from Darkfriends? My laughter faded. What kind of man had I gotten myself mixed up with? Burn me, what in the _Light _had I gotten myself into?


End file.
